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The Sound Rules in Reading the Quran (Tajwid) in Qutb Al-Din al-Shirazi’s Music Notation

In the Islamic world, starting from Al-Kindī (d. 874), Al-Fārābī (d. 950), Ibn Sīnā (d. 1034), and Safī al-Dīn al-Urmawī (d. 1294) used the abjad notation to write music. Of these writers, the most systematic one is Al-Urmawī. Whilst other music writers showed musical index with the abjad letter notation, al-Urmawī created music with and without lyrics with the abjad notes. Qutb al-Dīn Al-Shirāzī, from the subsequent generation after Al-Urmawī, introduced innovations in the abjad notation. In our study, we will analyse the essence of these innovations and show that the inspiration of Al-Shirāzī in his musical works was based on the sound rules in reading the Qurān (tajwīd).

Qutb al-Dīn Al-Shirāzī was born in Shirāz in 1236 CE and died in Tabrīz in 1311. He came from a family with a medical background. He received his preliminary medical education from his father, who was a well-known ophtalmologist, at Muzaffarī Hospital in Shirāz. He was educated in theology, medical sciences and sufism. Following his fathers death, he started work at the Mudhaffarī Hospital when he was 14. In 1260, he went to Marāgha and joined Nasīr al-Dīn n al-Tūsī's study circle. Afterwards, he travelled to Baghdad and stayed for a short time at the Nizamiyah School there. Al-Shirāzī met with Mawlanā Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī in 1271 in Konya (Turkey). He worked as a qādī (judge) in Malatya for a while, and then worked as a lecturer in Sivas Gok Madrasa. Then He then moved to Tabrīz where he died in 1311 [1].

Ibrahim Kafesoglu, talking about the great people of his time, defines his qualifications as follows: "Qutb al-Dīn Al-Shirāzī who brightened the philosophical movement and astronomer" [2].

Al-Shirāzī was a great scientist [3] and statesman [4] of the Selcuk times. He wrote many books about different subjects; he was also a music theorician and performer. Osman Turan's words on this topic are important; he said "Lots of scientists were dealing with music. Qutb al-Dīn Al-Shirāzī, who was the student of Sadr al-Dīn Konavī, and worked as a qādī in Sivas, was famous for his works on philosophy, astronomy and geography. He used to play chess and rebāb, gave lectures on Ibn Sina's Al-Qānun and al-Shifā and mingles his lectures with wit [5]."

Al-Shirāzī followed in the footsteps of another music scientist, Safī al-Dīn al-Urmawī (d. 1294), and made great contributions to music history with his innovations in notation. His music notation can be seen in his Durrat al-Tāj li-Gurrat al-Dibāj, an encyclopedical work that contains philosophy, natural sciences, geometry, logic, mathematics and music. For this study about his musical notations, we examined the copies of Durrat al-Tāj preserved in the Suleymaniye Library: Ayasofya MS 2405 (manuscript of Shirāzī on folio 198a-b), Ragip Pasha, MS 838 (folios 166b-167a), Damad Ibrahim, MS 815 (folios 358b-359a), Damad Ibrahim, MS 816 (folio 160a-b).

Al-Shirāzī continued Al-Urmawī's seventeen-tone system in his works [6]. He used Al-Urmawī's "abjad" notation but the most important point of his works is his use of a new notation system. Al-Shirāzī's innovation was first noted by Rauf Yekta in Turkey. In his article in Şehbal titled "A close look at music writing (notation) history", he wrote: "The great scientist Al-Shirāzī has gone so far in this issue. A composition in his Durrat al-Tāj was so detailed that musical nuances like forte (F) and piano (P) etc., which have been neglected in today's works, can be seen there [7]." Another historian, Owen Wright, mentions this feature in his book The Modal System of Arab and Persian Music, and he wrote Al-Shirāzī's composition with today's notation system [8]. Popescu-Judetz also explained this issue by using the information supplied in Wright's book [9].

Popescu-Judetz noted in particular that Al-Shirāzī, in comparison with Al-Urmawī, uses a more detailed note system. Even if the half porte system also exists in Harezm area [10], it is clear that Al-Shirāzī's details in notation and especially the nuance terms, which we will emphasise, belongs totally to him. We find such notation in the work of no other theorician of his age or in any other source before him.

The details of the pages carrying this notation are as follows: At the beginning of the diagram, it is mentioned that the composition is in khafīf (a rhytmic cycle) and "muhayyer-i hüseynī" modes. In the script above the diagram, the melody is ascribed to Al-Urmawī. What this ascription means is not clear. It may mean that this composition belongs to Al-Urmawī, because al-Urmawī's compositions were very famous outside Baghdad at that time [11]. Since Al-Urmawī has developed the 17 tone sound system, Al-Shirāzī may also want to emphasize this. We have to add that in Al-Urmawī's compositions, muhayyer-i hüseynī mode exists but there are no beats in khafīf as mentioned here.

There are 5 lines and 16 columns parallel to each other in the diagram, on which, Al-Urmawī's system of 16 mode, beginning from A (elif) to YV, has been written in abjad. And the places for beats have been written under these (qar') with kaf letters: Tan tan tananan tantan tananan. Note lines have been numerated on the right of the diagram as , 1, 2, 3, …, 15.

The section where the main composition notes starts with the first 5 lines:

1. Jadwal-i nagamāt: Notes of composition are shown.

2. Jadwal-i nakarāt: Beats are shown. As in Owen Wright's notes, since each column is equal to quaver note (one beat), every column is equal to 16 beats. Every line is written in a measure. Wright wrote the beats shown as points in each column as following:

The ones shown by 1 point with quaver:

The ones showed by 2 points with semiquaver:

Three points like triangle shape by writing 3 under it (triole) 3 semiquaver:

The ones who are three pointed (2+1) as two triple crochet and one semiquaver:

1+2 ones:

And finally for points:

.

The five points (3+2, 2+3) beats have been shown as:

and

And when we come to the reason why points at beat lines come under or above the line, with the use of the table, we can say that simple ones like 1, 2 and 3 (trio) are used under the line and the points above three are used above the line.

3. Jadwal-i jumū'-i mukhtalit: Different modal orders are shown in the composition. It is said that there is rūy-i irak at third line, hisar at twelfth line, isfahan (two sounds at thirteenth line), and zengule at the 13th and 14th lines.

4. Jadwal-i akhwāl-i nagamāt: Notation nuances are shown. The most interesting details in this notation are these nuances. We will continue its explanation below.

5. Jadwal-i taqsīm-i shi'ir: Lyrics shares are done at this last line. What part of the poem will come under which tone is written.

A whole script of the poem is written at the beginning of the composition. The Arabic poem is the following:

"O sovereign, through whom fortune smiles on me
May you always be surrounded by the objects of your desire
May you not cease to enjoy a life of ease
Safe from the calamitous blows of fate [12]."

The manuscript explains that we must return to the first line when we come to the tenth note line in the composition. When we return to the first line, the second verse of lyrics starts. Then we continue until the end of the note (1-15 lines). Then we return the fifth line again, and the composition is completed with the tenth line. There are long tarannum (extra-textual refrain/til lil le re dir…) at the end of the lyrics. It must also be added that showing notes, the nakarat, and the poem's lyrics in the same diagram can be considered as an orchestration.

A most important issue in terms of our topic are the nuances mentioned in the fourth line. The nuances in al-Shirāzī's notation are written as following in Arabic [13]:

Mad (to lengthen): If another note does not follow a note, we see mad sign. This shows that the same note will be played until the end of mad line.

Waqf (Stop sign, silent): A sign similar to circular h (jazm) is used instead of points where there is waqf (for example in the 9th and 10th note lines).

Sākin: It is used in syllables where the last sound is read without haraka (a sound system in Arabic language system); we see it at the end of the fourth line.

Jahr: Performance with a high, explicit and open voice.

Mushaddad (vehement): Wright said that it balanced to sforzando (sf); it is known that sf voice shows sudden rise of voice and singing in a high voice.

Mushaddad and Jahr: Wright called this fortissimo (ff); Mushaddad and cehr's used together side by side can be seen only in the second line of note.

Khufūt: Singing lyrics in a lower voice, to lower the voice (piano).

Mufakhkham: Wright shows this with rfz (rinforzando) and it means to thicken the voice and sing the lyrics without streching but with a thick voice.

Mukhtalas: Wright put this on or under the note to say that this note's length will be shortened. He also he noted that this sign is used instead of staccato [14].

These nuances are the most important innovations in Eastern musical notation in the 1300s. In Al-Shirāzī's century, these nuances did not exist in Al-Urmawī and in the music booklet of their common teacher al-Tūsī's [15]. In fact, establishing the notes with abjad letters go back to Al-Kindī. Al-Kindī, the first scholar of this affiliation, whose works have reached us today, used the abjad notation and established melody patterns with this system and even gave us the first examples of harmony [16]. Older sources regarding detailed notation can be found, but we cannot find any information about nuances in these older sources.

Isfehani's statement in his Kitāb al-Aghāni is really important about this issue: "Ishaq al-Mawsilī composed and he presented it to the attention of Caliph Ibrahim b. al-Mahdī. In this composition he wrote everything; composition, poem, finger press places, positions, shares, sections, places where from the melodies appear, tunes and measures [17]." From these sentences, we understand that the musicians of that time were trying to write music with notes. Details regarding notation are really important and nothing can be said further since we do not have copies of these works.

Was musical notation used in the West in al-Shirāzī's century? The first person who used these nuances in the West was Giovanni Gabrieli (d. 1612). Until the XVIIth century, the West had hardly ever used notational nuances but in the XVIIth century, it was widely used [18]. In Gabrielli's famous work Sacrae Symphoniae (1597), "Sonata pian'e forte" section, both instruments were used and nuances (forte, pian) were expressed. This is one of the examples of early musical nuances [19]. Again in Giulio Caccini's composition dated 1590 and published work dated 1602, Le nuove musische, which contains several tunes and madrigals, it can be seen that there were some decorations similar to those which singers used at cadances. Other decorations seen in these notes are Crescendo, decrescendo, gruppi (as trill), trilli (as tremolo/tremolando), in some sort exclamations (while releasing a captured note at the meaning of doing sforzando) and free performance of note values (tempo rubato) matching signs [20].

This tradition of note nuance peaked with the Mannheim school, and with Haydn,Mozart and Beethoven it gained universal acceptance in the XVIIIth century. Grading of piano and forte nuances (for example, ppp, fff) had never been seen before the Mannheim school [21]. In the light of this information, it can be said that in the West, nuances like piano and forte are not used before 1597.

As stated by Farmer, at the time of the Shah Ala' al-Dīn (d. 1920), in Shamsaddīn Saydawī's works there were half porte trials in notations [22]. While saying half porte, we may think that it is intended to say al-Shirāzī's diagram. Popescu-Judetz, by mentioning other examples of notation methods of that time, expresses the opinion that these trials were efforts to use letter notes. But he also mentions that these efforts did not effect the Systematic School in the Ottoman State and remained as parallel tendencies of former times [23]. As expected none of the written musical works includes nuances.

Our research leads us to think that the source of al-Shirāzī's inspiration was the rules of recitation (tilawat) in Qur'ān's Tajwīd. Tajwīd is an Arabic word for elocution, meaning proper pronunciation during recitation, as well as recitation of the Qurān at a moderate speed.

We believe that al-Shirāzī was inspired by the rules of recitation (tilāwat) nuances that are used in the Qur'ān's Tajwīd sound rules and qira'at (beautiful reading) books. While starting this research some signs like kasr, madd, waqf, and sakta, that show how to read the letter, has attracted our attention. However, later we learned that these signs may have been put into Qur'ān later and different copies in different countries may have a different sign system was later information we obtained from the experts. This does not alter the fact that these signs have its roots back to Prophet Muhammad [24]. Certainly, these nuances are not verbatim to the nuances in music. However, the signs, under or on the letters in Qur'ān, showing how to read the letter with which sound has similarities with musical nuances. Then we looked if al-Shirāzī's nuances and concepts were similar to Qur'ān's Tajwīd books or not. We saw that all the nuance terms were similar to Tajwīd practise. These terms were nearly the same with al-Shirāzī's and they all have the same origin as shown below:

Madd and qasr have an important role in tajwīd practise. In dictionaries Madd means to lengthen and stretch the words; in the tajwīd, the mad sign shows that the letter must be lengthened [25].

Waqf means to stop or cut; in tajwīd, kat' is used instead of this [26]. The main principle in using waqf is to make a stop over the sukūn sign [27].

Sākin has the same root with sukūn; its lexical meaning is to stop, calm down, stay motionless; but as a technical term, it meant that the letter does not have haraka (sound). Its original name is ‘alamat al-jazm (sign of stopping) [28].

Jahr means open, explicit reading and to talk with a high voice [29]. In the dictionary jahara bi'l-kalam means to say the word with a high voice, in a strong voice; michar refers to microphone, and jawharī is used as a high thin voice [30]. Hams (hiding voice), the opposite of jahr, is also used [31].

Shadda means strength; the letters that must be read vehemently are called as hurūf shadīda[32].

Khufūt comes from the root khafata and means saying a word silently, to lower your voice during reading. It is the opposite of jahr and raf'[33]. Khafdhu al-sawt (to lower the voice) is used similiarly in tajwīd rules.

Mufakhkham has the same root with tafkhīm and means to thicken something. As a technical term in tajwid, it means to read a letter by thickening it [34]. Letters that must be read thickly are called as hurūf mufakhkhama[35]. Its opposite is tarqīq[36].

Mukhtalas comes from the same root as ikhtilās and that means to take something quickly with force and run away. In qira'at (reading) of the Qur'an, it means to read the two thirds of the haraka and leave one third without reading it [37].

Another point that supports our opinion that tilawat (recitation) nuances of the Qur'ān's tajwīd have inspired the nuances used in music is this: Al-Shirāzī's work is written in the Persian language but these terms are totally Arabic. So we can say that the intensity of Arabic tajwīd may have an effect on this issue. In addition to all these conclusions, when tajwīd practise is carefully examined, it can be clearly seen that it has many similarities with music. A scholar has expressed this as follows: "Tajwid in the qira'at practise matches the pronunciation of each letter in aspects of thick, thin, strong, weak sounds. (…) The aim of tajwīd is to read every word in a perfectly pronounced way [38]."

It will be useful to define the issue before describing when Tajwīd and qira'at books were written: We can see such terms mentioned terms in the Prophet Muhammad's deeds in the same or nearly the same form before Tajwīd books. Of course Tajwīd as a science did not exist during the Prophet's era. Prophet Muhammad used to read Qur'ān with Tajwīd and used to teach his companions to read in the same way, so that Tajwīd later became a science. So it would not be wrong to say that the rules and regulations regarding Tajwīd were established and taught to his companions by Prophet Muhammad [39].

Let us trace these nuance terms in music and Tajwīd in Prophet's hadiths and some companions' applications and comments: It is obligatory to read Qur'ān with "tartil" and it is written in the verse of Qur'ān [40]. When Aisha wife of Prophet was asked how he read Qur'ān she said that "He reads slowly with a great harmony." Karakilic, comments on this tartil and assumption as follows. We see that most of the terms, in Karakilic's statement, are nearly the same at al-Shirāzī. Karakilic says that: "As can be understood from this hadith, it is obligatory to read Qur'ān with Tajwīd. Because Prophet used to read Qur'ān like Gabriel read with Tajwīd, that is, with its mads, with its harmony, with its tashdids. And then he taught his companions to read in the same way, and ordered them ‘read the Qur'ān as you learned from me'. So this rule on reading called Tajwīd has passed from the companions to all their students from generation to generation [41]. In fact the real aim of Tajwīd was "to read Qur'ān in the best way with its obligatory rules and pronounce it correctly as Prophet Muhammad did [42]."

When Ali was asked "What is tartil? He answered: To understand and know the letters' Tajwīd "ibtida" and "waqf[43]."

When Anas b. Mālik was asked how Prophet Muhammad used to read Qur'ān he said: "He used to lengthen the letters which must be lengthened [44]."

In one of the hadith it is said that "Qur'ān has been descended with tafhīm" [45] Prophet Muhammad also read Qur'ān as he had taken it from Gabriel. As Qur'ān has descended with tafhīm, this also shows that Prophet himself is not the main source of Qur'ān. According to this hadith it is good to read Qur'ān as Prophet did. Tafhīm means to read Qur'ān with a bass melodical voice. According to Halimī (d. 1012) tafhīm is to read Qur'ān with the best suited man's voice, so everyone must be careful to obey this rule [46].

Another example regarding this is Prophet's warnings to Ebu Bakr and Omar, to heighten or lower their voices while reading Qur'ān [47].

Besides these instructions, it is the Prophet himself who wants people to read Qur'ān with a sad voice (tahzīn-i sadā) [48]. Which verses in Qur'ān will be read with sad voice, with high voice, with low voice or with normal voice depending on Prophet's assumptions can be seen in a fully detailed way at Tajwīd books [49].

These issues were discussed not only at Tajwīd practises but also at phonetic studies in the Islamic world since early times. We can group sciences that have concerns with phonetics into three categories:

1- Arabic language practises: Literature, verse, rhyme, rhetorics… ;

2- Logic, philosophy, medicine and musical practises;

3- Qiraat, Tajwīd, writing using the hareke system.

The first work in the first group, which has a muqaddima (foreword) that can be called a phonetics study, belongs to Al-Khalil b. Ahmad al-Farāhidī (d. 791) and its name is Kitāb al-'Ayn[50]. Many books were written after this one. Sībawayh's (d. 180/796) "al-Kitāb", which contains various phonetics studies, followed al-Khalīl's book [51]. The books written by scientists such as Al-Kindī, Al-Farabi and Ibn Sīna about music and sound concepts are examples of the second group [52]. When considering the third group, which is directly related to our topic, the first work that organizes Tajwīd issues is "al-Kasīda al- Hakaniyya fī al-Tajvīd" written by Mūsā b. ‘Ubaydullah b. Hakan (d. 937) [53]. This work contains 51 verses relating to how Qur'ān can be better read. Imam Dānī (d. 1052), who wrote many books about Tajwīd and qiraat, also commented on this book. Another work of his regarding this topic is "al-Tahdīd fī al-Itkān ve al-Tajvīd". The oldest work that had reached us after "al-Kasīda al-Hakaniyya" is kiraat imam Ebu Hasan ‘Alī b. Ca'fer al-Sa'idī al-Mukrī's (d. 1069) "al-Tanbīh ‘alā al-Lahni al-Jalī wa al-Lahni al-Hafī". The most important work regarding Tajwīd issues that have reached us today is the book of qira'at by Imam Ebū Muhammad Makkī b. Abī Tālib al-Kaysī (d. 1045) Kitāb al-Ri'āya li-Tajwīd al-Kirā'a wa-Tahqīq al-Tilāwa" [54]. If we consider other works related to qira'at, the first is Abu ‘Ubayd al-Kāsim b. Sallām (d. 839). The first work regarding the sound system is Ibn Mujahid's (d. 936) Kitāb al-Sab'a, that shows seven different recitations. Afterwards, many qira'at books by various writers were written [55].

As can be seen from the death dates of the authors mentioned in this text, that works related to Tajwīd and kiraat started to be written in very old times. The first of the most famous qiraat scholar is Ibn Amir (d. 736) and the latest one is Kisāī (d. 805). The last narrator (rawi) to die of the seven qira'at imam Abdullah Ibn Kasīr, (d. 737) is Kunbul (d. 903) [56] Halef b. Hisham al-Basri is the 10th kurrā. (d. 844). When we look at the death dates of these scholars, we see that rules and applications taken from the Prophet regarding qira'at had been completed.

There is no doubt that many Tajwīd books have been written, but between the 8th and 13th centuries many books were written and Tajwīd rules were stabilized. We believe that there are serious contradictions about nuances, among these qira'at. For example mad, kasr, etc… are terms that are common to all qira'at but there is contradiction on how long this trend is to last [57].

Figure 7a-b: Two pages from Al-Tuhfa al-Shahiya fi al-hay'a (The Gift to the Shah on Astronomy) by Al-Shirāzī (Iran or Eastern Mediterranean, 14th century. An early copy of his manuscript of astronomy and planetary motions, Arabic manuscript on paper, 217ff., each with 21ll. of black naskh script, important words and titles picked out in red, with a number of very fine astronomical diagrams, some marginal notes (folio 7 x 5 ¼ in, 18 x 13.4cm.) (Source1 – Source 2).

When we look at the nuances in Al-Shirāzī's notation, we see that he occupies a unique place in Oriental music. According to today's findings, we can confidently say that his only source in the musical ‘expression' is the tradition of Quran tajwīd[58]. It is a tragedy to see that Al-Shirāzī had put in this detailed notation seven centuries ago, but we neglected it for centuries. For scientific development, studies must have been carried out for many centuries. It is dull to discuss whether we must use notes to write music today, when compared these with Al-Shirāzī's scientific approaches many centuries ago. If only Al-Shirāzī's great and original contribution to notation system had been evaluated. Centuries ago, oriental scientists have sailed to new horizons to invent and find reasons for nearly everything with great ambition and eager. Everyone, who belongs to Islamic culture, knows the importance of works related to Qur'ān's Tajwīd and qira'at. It is understood that music has also taken advantage of these works. As a consequence, we believe that cooperation of Tajwīd and music needs further studies [59].

[8]The Modal System of Arab and Persian Music, London 1978, pp. 231–244; Owen Wright, who examined al-Shirāzī and based his book The Modal… on al-Urmawī and al-Shirāzī, uses copies of Durrat al-Tāi, BM. Add. 7694 and Indiana Office Ethé 2219–2220 in his work.

[9]Türk Musiki Kültürünün Anlamlari, (translated by Bülent Aksoy), Pan, Istanbul 1998, p. 25; see also Wright, "Qutb al-Dīn [Mahmūd ibn Mas'ūd al-Shīrāzī]", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, XX, 691–692. This note's introductory section takes place under The New Grove's "Arab Music" title and emphasises Al-Shirāzī's notation is also given, vol. 1, p. 808.

[13] Owen Wright also wrote the present day equivalents of these nuances. For example jahr instead of forte (f), mushaddad instead of sforzando (sf), mushaddad and jahr instead of fortissimo (ff), khufut instead of piano (p), mufahham instead of rinforzando (rfz), and mukhtalas instead of staccato.

[30]El-Müncid, Dâru'l-Meşrik, 1969, p. 106. Jahr is used in Tâhâ sûra 7th ayah (verse) in the Quran: "And if you utter the saying aloud (in techer), then surely He knows the secret, and what is yet more hidden."

[37] Nihat Temel, Kirâat ve Tecvîd Istilahlari, Istanbul 1997, p. 72. In Zümer Sûra, 7th ayah "… and if you are grateful, He likes (yardahu) it in you…", the last syllable in the word "yardahu", namely hu has a short reading, which is an example for this. Tetik, p. 181.

[51] For a list of the many books written before the 13th century, see Muhammad Hassân Et-Tayyân, "Araplarda Sesbilim (Fonetik)", translated by Ahmet Yüksel, On dokuz Mayis University Journal of Faculty of Divinity, issue 17, Samsun 2004, p. 303 ff.

[58] Our colleagues, with whom we shared our thesis regarding the nuances used by al-Shirāzī, found our discovery exciting and found it very logical that the Qur'an's tajwid inspired al-Shirāzī in his musical works.

[59] Al-Shirāzī's work with today's notation can be seen in Owen Wright, pp. 233-244.